Concert marks premiere of Camil Van Hulse work | Arts & Culture

The world premiere of a musical composition by the late Camil Van Hulse, co-founder of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, headlines a January 6, 2013, concert by soprano Dianne Iauco and bass Arizeder Urreiztieta titled “International Treasury of Song” at St. Philip’s In The Hills Episcopal Church.

The concert aria for voice and piano, “Martyrdom,” derives its name from the poem by Leonard Charles van Noppen by the same title. “Martyrdom” most likely dates from the late 1960s or early 1970s, said Urreiztieta, to whom the composer gave the piece shortly before his 1988 death. Widely known as a prolific composer of symphonic, pipe organ, choral and chamber music works, the Belgian-born World War I veteran arrived in Tucson in the early 1920s and was later admired as dean of Tucson’s musical community.

Pianist Bonnie Bird will accompany the husband-wife team of Iauco and Urreiztieta in the 2 p.m. concert, part of the Friends of Music series at St. Philip’s In The Hills. In addition to the Van Hulse premiere, the program will include several duets, including “Wann Kommst Du, Mein Heil” from J.S. Bach’s Cantata 141 with violin soloist Joseph Rousos-Hammond, the TSO’s acting associate concertmaster.

Other compositions on the program include the duet by Adina and Dr. Dulcamara, characters from Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera The Elixir of Love; the duet of Don Quixote and Dulcinea from Jules Massenet’s opera Don Quichotte; the Josh Groban and Celine Dion-popularized “Prayer” by Carole Bayer Sager and David Walter Foster, and other songs in English, Italian, Spanish, French, Russian and Finnish.

Soprano Dianne Iauco is a former principal artist at New York City Opera, and a winner of the Opera Company of Philadelphia/Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, where she performed with Pavarotti. Other performing associations include New Israeli Opera Vocal Arts Institute (Tel Aviv); Chicago Lyric Opera; Opera Orchestra of New York; Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra; Indianapolis Symphony; Illinois Philharmonic; and Long Island Philharmonic In Tucson, she appeared as the mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Wieck Chamber Singers in 2008, 2010 and 2011. The Syracuse, N.Y., native and Metropolitan Opera Auditions winner earned her bachelor and master degrees and an artist's certificate in opera performance from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Bass Arizeder Urreiztieta has been a soloist on the stages of six world capitals and two-thirds of these United States. A gifted and versatile musician and Russian language coach, he has been heard with the New York Philharmonic, Chanticleer, Pomerium, Emmanuel Music, Voices of Ascension, Long Island Baroque Ensemble, Tafelmusik, Boston Camerata, Columbus Philharmonic, Musica Sonora and Tucson Chamber Artists. Originally a violinist, he earned a bachelor’s degree in composition from the University of Arizona and a master’s in voice from Indiana University, where he was nominated for the institution’s coveted Performance Certificate.

Pianist Bonnie Bird studied at the Juilliard Prep Division as a teen, later earning a bachelor’s degree in piano from Westminster Choir College in Princeton. She continued her musical studies at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music. She later earned a Master of Music degree in accompanying and voice from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Following a year of teaching at CCM, she spent six years at Edgecliff College in Cincinnati as instructor in voice and opera. Following a 20-year residence in Germany, Ms. Bird now makes Tucson her home and is on the staff at the UA voice department as an accompanist and coach. She also maintains a private voice studio.

A native Tucsonan, Joseph Rousos-Hammond received a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin from Indiana University and a Master of Music degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts. He currently serves as Acting Associate Concertmaster of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.

St. Philip’s is located at 4440 N. Campbell Avenue at River Road. Ample parking is available in the north parking lot or under our new solar parking structure on the east side. The office phone number is 299-6421.